On Friday, this “competition” moved into the semi-final round, with Electronic Arts (EA) being pitted against Ticketmaster—readers can vote in an online poll set to close just before midnight, Eastern Time, Friday night. (EA "won" this event last year.)

Surprisingly though, EA CEO Peter Moore offered up a rebuttal on a corporate blog on Friday afternoon. There, he argued that because EA is high-profile, it draws a lot of negative attention. Or, put in a slightly folksier way: “The tallest trees catch the most wind.”

Are we really the “Worst Company in America?” I’ll be the first to admit that we’ve made plenty of mistakes. These include server shut downs too early, games that didn’t meet expectations, missteps on new pricing models and most recently, severely fumbling the launch of SimCity. We owe gamers better performance than this.

Some of these complaints are 100 percent legitimate—like all large companies we are not perfect. But others just don’t hold water:

Many continue to claim the Always-On function in SimCity is a DRM scheme. It’s not. People still want to argue about it. We can’t be any clearer—it’s not. Period.

Some claim there’s no room for Origin as a competitor to Steam. 45 million registered users are proving that wrong.

Some people think that free-to-play games and micro-transactions are a pox on gaming. Tens of millions more are playing and loving those games.

We’ve seen mailing lists that direct people to vote for EA because they disagree with the choice of the cover athlete on Madden NFL. Yes, really.

In the past year, we have received thousands of emails and postcards protesting against EA for allowing players to create LGBT characters in our games. This week, we’re seeing posts on conservative web sites urging people to protest our LGBT policy by voting EA the Worst Company in America.

That last one is particularly telling. If that’s what makes us the worst company, bring it on. Because we're not caving on that.

Update: The Consumerist wrote a counter-argument to Moore's rebuttal, incredulous of his claim that the Madden cover or LGBT characters in its games are driving EA's performance as possible two-time winner of The Consumerist's "Worst Company" poll.

"While any number of tech and video game sites and forums have been writing about and linking to the WCIA polls (here’s lookin’ at you /v/), our analytics show absolutely no incoming traffic from anything we’d label as political, let alone conservative," The Consumerist writes off the claim that EA is getting votes from homophobic customers.

Promoted Comments

Really guys! It's not DRM! Just because you've shown all of our justification for the always-on aspect was a total lie doesn't mean it was a lie to cover up a crippling DRM scheme that only hurts legitimate customers! Really!

So why exactly is Ticketmaster so hated? I never buy tickets, so they're a bit outside the area I normally travel...

Wow. I don't know if this "defense" was a good idea. He hand waves the very real and very big problems they have had the last year, saying "like all large companies we are not perfect."Then he goes on to imply that most of the people voting them the worst company are doing it for either superficial reasons, such as "they disagree with the choice of the cover athlete on Madden" or that they are bigots, "protesting against EA for allowing players to create LGBT characters in our games"I find this defense to be dismissive and insulting and it just makes me all the more glad that I am not one of EA's customers.

EDIT: I really have to wonder why these guys continue to try and push the idea that the always online requirement is not DRM. It is farcical on its face. As evidenced by the mod scene the game is very capable of running locally, showing most of the actual heavy lifting is being done by the client machine. If it really wasn't DRM there would be an offline mode for people who just wanted to play by themselves in their own local region. There is no technical reason that couldn't happen. So while the design does favor online play it certainly does not require it. Ergo, there is a DRM component to the always online decision.

I just reread Erik Kain's "Why EA Won The "Worst Company In America" Award" at Forbes. All still valid reasons. The SimCity deblacle (plus the outright lies about the technical complexities of removing always on-line "feature"), this rebuttal and the fact that again they try to use the LGBT card to divert attention from the real issues behind their customers' criticisms should be added to the list. I will vote accordingly.

191 Reader Comments

Really guys! It's not DRM! Just because you've shown all of our justification for the always-on aspect was a total lie doesn't mean it was a lie to cover up a crippling DRM scheme that only hurts legitimate customers! Really!

So why exactly is Ticketmaster so hated? I never buy tickets, so they're a bit outside the area I normally travel...

Many continue to claim the Always-On function in SimCity is a DRM scheme. It’s not. People still want to argue about it. We can’t be any clearer—it’s not. Period.

It's a de facto DRM scheme. If it's been easily bypassed, and the game would be better without it, it serves the same function.

Quote:

Some claim there’s no room for Origin as a competitor to Steam. 45 million registered users are proving that wrong.

Because EA games often don't support Steam; I'm sure there'd be no subscribers if games like Mass Effect 2 were on Steam.

Quote:

Some people think that free-to-play games and micro-transactions are a pox on gaming. Tens of millions more are playing and loving those games.

It's all about implementation, and EA's (not unpredictably) sucks.

Quote:

We’ve seen mailing lists that direct people to vote for EA because they disagree with the choice of the cover athlete on Madden NFL. Yes, really.

OK, so?

Quote:

In the past year, we have received thousands of emails and postcards protesting against EA for allowing players to create LGBT characters in our games. This week, we’re seeing posts on conservative web sites urging people to protest our LGBT policy by voting EA the Worst Company in America.

Again, so?

2 out of 2 arguments don't hold water; overall I'd say his argument as a whole, that EA doesn't suck, isn't well-defended by his statements.

So why exactly is Ticketmaster so hated? I never buy tickets, so they're a bit outside the area I normally travel...

They charge very high prices for a simple service. Around 15% of the ticket price. It's baffling that they still exist in the Internet age. In the past I've bought tickets through them and got to the venue to find out that I could have bought them direct and saved quite a bit.

Many continue to claim the Always-On function in SimCity is a DRM scheme. It’s not. People still want to argue about it. We can’t be any clearer—it’s not. Period.

It's a de facto DRM scheme. If it's been easily bypassed, and the game would be better without it, it serves the same function.

^This. Period. Mr Moore.

As for all the other arguments, I don't know. There are a lot of very vocal minorities out there pushing various agendas rightly or wrongly. But the vocal majority you should be concerning yourself with is Gamers, since they are your customers and without them you're nothing.

Yeah, because all large corporations draw as much hate as EA. At least MS and Apple have at least as many fans as haters. I don't see many people defending EA these days, much less saying they actually like them.

While I dislike EA's irritating anti-consumer moves... I can't imagine how it even holds a candle to ticketmaster. Ticketmaster is a company wholly without purpose, whose monopoly on performance venues allows them to take a cut from both performer AND attendee. It has a system deliberately catering to ticket scalpers and corporate clientel, and whose customer service is bar none the worst in the known universe. Terrible cable TV overseas support has NOTHING on ticketmaster "sorry, we can't help you at all, all sales are final even if you didn't receive the item you paid us for" terribleness. It's a company whose business plan is "suck those suckers dry." While EA's is ultimately that too, at least they give you SOMETHING for it, even if it is lackluster DLC. /end rant

Wow. I don't know if this "defense" was a good idea. He hand waves the very real and very big problems they have had the last year, saying "like all large companies we are not perfect."Then he goes on to imply that most of the people voting them the worst company are doing it for either superficial reasons, such as "they disagree with the choice of the cover athlete on Madden" or that they are bigots, "protesting against EA for allowing players to create LGBT characters in our games"I find this defense to be dismissive and insulting and it just makes me all the more glad that I am not one of EA's customers.

EDIT: I really have to wonder why these guys continue to try and push the idea that the always online requirement is not DRM. It is farcical on its face. As evidenced by the mod scene the game is very capable of running locally, showing most of the actual heavy lifting is being done by the client machine. If it really wasn't DRM there would be an offline mode for people who just wanted to play by themselves in their own local region. There is no technical reason that couldn't happen. So while the design does favor online play it certainly does not require it. Ergo, there is a DRM component to the always online decision.

I just reread Erik Kain's "Why EA Won The "Worst Company In America" Award" at Forbes. All still valid reasons. The SimCity deblacle (plus the outright lies about the technical complexities of removing always on-line "feature"), this rebuttal and the fact that again they try to use the LGBT card to divert attention from the real issues behind their customers' criticisms should be added to the list. I will vote accordingly.

EA, you've got a fair point on that last one.But you've still screwed too many people over.

They would only have a fair point on that last one if they had done this 20, or even 10 years ago. not 3 years ago when the majority of your market has accepted the idea. They completely played it safe on the LGBT issue and now they want to trot that out like they are some kind of corporate Rosa Parks. I think it is actually kind of pathetic and insulting that they would trot this out in response to possibly being voted worst company in American 2 times running.

2 out of 2 arguments don't hold water; overall I'd say his argument as a whole, that EA doesn't suck, isn't well-defended by his statements.

It seems like his primary argument is: "Other people who are angry at us are bigots. You're angry at us, therefore you're a bigot."

No, I don't think so. I think he's trying to claim corporate virtue and integrity, which is at least less disingenuous than what you are suggesting.Not that I believe it for a minute. EA is not sticking their necks out here. They are moving with the prevailing wind. The fact that they bring this up says nothing positive about EA as a company, but does actually say something positive about the direction our culture is going on the topic of LGBT rights.

Many continue to claim the Always-On function in SimCity is a DRM scheme. It’s not. People still want to argue about it. We can’t be any clearer—it’s not. Period.

The sun is a giant space firefly, Yes it is, period. See I can make stupid statements as well.

Quote:

Some claim there’s no room for Origin as a competitor to Steam. 45 million registered users are proving that wrong.

I've never seen anyone say there isn't room for competitors to Steam, frankly I'd love to see more competitors for Steam, competition is good, what people are saying is that Origin is a shit service when compared to Steam.

Quote:

Some people think that free-to-play games and micro-transactions are a pox on gaming. Tens of millions more are playing and loving those games.

Tens of millions of people smoke, popularity doesn't automatically mean something is good.

At least EA sells a product. Ticket master charges you a fee to print your ticket on your printer. They exist only to keep you from getting mad at promoters. The truly can die in a fire. I hate EA's practices too, but ticketmaster sucks the sweat off a dead man's balls.

We should be so lucky that the entire board and upper level management would fall upon their swords.

Early in my gaming enjoyment Electronic Arts meant a quality game even though it might mean a higher price the higher quality was assured. Now EA is an horrible company with a Suite of Monkeys in Suits grabbing after coins in a melon trap. They still don't realize that their destruction is ultimately result of their greed.

EA has been a plague on the gaming industry for the last 20 years. They epitomize every negative stereotype about conglomerates. They see good businesses, gobble them up, strip away everything that made them good, and then close them the business can't give good results under the EA model.

Besides their anti-competitive behavior, EA has made some great games - for a long time, seeing the EA logo pop up when you put a disc in was a reason to be cautiously excited. But these days their games are all the same, there are no risks and nothing exciting ever happens. It's an issue with much of the AAA industry right now, but I see no small part for EA in creating the problem in the first place.

In the past year, we have received thousands of emails and postcards protesting against EA for allowing players to create LGBT characters in our games. This week, we’re seeing posts on conservative web sites urging people to protest our LGBT policy by voting EA the Worst Company in America.

It's that time again, every two months, where EA throws LGBT under the bus to absolve themselves of a backlog of controversies and wrongdoings.

This is a company that admittedly paid people to stage a fake christian protest against itself, that allegedly flooded their own petition with bots repeating the same 2-4 encouraging lines. Does anyone out there still believe that EA has some kind of noble, non-profitable intent when it brings up LGBT during every single controversy they create?

This is the same poll that last year judged us as worse than companies responsible for the biggest oil spill in history, the mortgage crisis, and bank bailouts that cost millions of taxpayer dollars. The complaints against us last year were our support of SOPA (not true), and that they didn’t like the ending to Mass Effect 3..

What the blinded by money corporate exec is trying to say he cant fathom why the public/customers rated his company worse than those responsible for all the economic woes and environmental disasters of the last few years. My guess: Peter has been a cog in the squeezing-cash-out-of-customers machine for far to long to recognize that the general public knows banks are out for maximum profit, and oil companies will always destroy the environment for a quick dollar; however when a company who develops and produces a game for enjoyment so the player can escape the profit driven corporate headlines for a few hours, now turns their business practices to ones which are designed to nickle and dime customers to death because they have no other options, Peter he is shocked to see the negative reviews!

The title of his whining blog: "We can do better" ... for our bottom line and share holders! Just keep buying our shiny turds you suckers!